Lone wolf claim in ‘gang rape’

Mohammad Hamid, the arrested prime accused in the alleged gang rape of a 21-year-old mall employee in Kidderpore on Sunday night, has insisted that he was alone with her.

According to police sources, the woman had initially said that five men assaulted her.

The investigating officers, who spoke to the woman on Thursday at Belle Vue Clinic where she is undergoing treatment, said they have been able to draw only bits of details from her because she wasn’t fit to talk at length about the crime.

The woman spoke to the police briefly — in short bursts.

Doctors said her condition improved on Thursday and she ate. “She has undergone psychiatric consultancy since Wednesday night. She is feeling better,” said a doctor at Belle Vue. She was having mood swings because of the trauma.

The woman had told the police that she had gone out with Hamid for dinner after which she was brutalised and dumped at Howrah station. “She said on Wednesday that Hamid asked her to stay the night since it got very late after dinner. So he took her to a relative’s place but they did not allow her in. They then went to a guesthouse where they were denied a room. Hamid then took her to a desolate garage in Watgunge and raped her,” an officer said quoting her.

“We still need to be sure whether her original version of being gang-raped by Hamid and four others still stands,” said an officer.

The police said medical reports confirmed sexual assault but the circumstances leading to the offence might be a little different.